We Are Alive
by CPD5021George
Summary: A sequel to my stories "No Surrender" and "Reason to Believe". Jay and Hailey are together, and life seems to be perfect. Until one day they are suddenly gone. Set in a slightly AU season 7, Rojas has joined the unit, but is not living with Hailey, and there is no Burzek baby in this universe, simply because the story is only about Upstead
1. Chapter 1

_**This is a sequel to my earlier stories "No Surrender" and "Reason to Believe". In this universe Jay Halstead and Hailey Upton are a couple already. It's set somewhere in a slightly alternate season 7, with Rojas just having joined the unit. **_

**Chapter 1**

_Chapter 1 is a short prologue, before the actual story begins__– just to make us all feel safe and sound, before all of that changes quickly._

**Day -1**

It was an unusually warm and sunny Sunday in late October, a perfect Sunday.

Hailey Upton woke up, because Jay Halstead was moving in his sleep more than usual. It happened from time to time, she was used to it.

She turned towards him, caressed his cheek.

"Hey babe," she whispered. "What's wrong?"

Jay moaned, still half asleep.

"Nightmare?"

He opened his eyes reluctantly. "Don't know. Feels like someone walked over my grave."

Hailey planted a soft kiss on Jay's mouth. "Let me make it better, ok?"

Jay smiled weakly, still trying to shake off the bad feeling. He didn't even know what his dream or nightmare had been about, it just felt weird. But he gladly gave in to Hailey, concentrating on her and her alone. He let his hands wander over her soft skin, saw that she shivered under his touch. She pulled him closer, held him very tight, and it only took seconds before Jay's mind was busy with other things, busy with being happy. He couldn't get enough of Hailey, sweet, sexy, stunning Hailey. He would do anything to protect her and their relationship.

* * *

They spent most of the Sunday in bed, just like it happened often, just being together, talking or being quiet, watching TV, playing video games, listening to music, reading, cuddling, making love. It felt like the best way to shut out the world, the world of crime and violence that they encountered at work on a daily basis. Their week had been tough, a rough and ugly case, lots of overtime, not enough sleep. On Saturday they had been on the golf course during daytime, and at Molly's with their colleagues and friends in the evening. A good day with lots of fun and laughter. Good to unwind.

Sunday was their special time to be alone, just the two of them. As much fun as it was to be with friends or outside exercising or visiting places, they needed and cherished this island of a free Sunday. They already had been through so much together, first as partners, then as friends, and finally as a couple, therefore they knew all too well how important it was to have this safe place.

* * *

In the afternoon, they lay next to each other, looking at the ceiling.

"You know, alternating between two houses can get a little too much," Jay suddenly said. "Keeping stuff in two places, always organizing stuff and remembering where you put what, you know?"

Hailey rolled to the side to face Jay, smiled a bit teasingly and propped her head on her hand. "Are you asking me to move in with you?"

Jay grinned. "I might just do that." He looked into her eyes expectantly. Hailey didn't answer right away, and Jay's face changed from a smile to a worrying look. "Is it too soon?"

Hailey shook her head quickly. "No, Jay. Not at all. I'd love to live with you," she reassured him. "Why would it be too soon?"

"So, your place, my place, or…?" Hailey asked after a while.

"Your place is bigger and nicer, and it was just re-done, so it would be the logical solution," Jay said. "But… I… you know…"

"What, Jay?" _Why was it so hard for him to say what he wanted? Did he still expect her to always brush away his ideas and wishes and do what she wants, just like… _"Hey, it's me, Jay. Me – Hailey. Say it, babe."

"Based on past experience," Jay said reluctantly. "I think the best would be if we looked for a new place for the two of us." He looked as if he expected her to disagree right away.

But Hailey nodded, "Not me moving in to your place or you moving in to mine. A fresh start."

"Exactly. Not changing your place or mine, but building something new for us, together."

She smiled her shining bright smile. "You know, I love my house, but you're right. It's a much better idea. It would be perfect, Jay."

Relieved, Jay kissed her. "Yes, it would. Let's start looking next week, ok? Let's make sure it's the perfect place for both of us. I already have so many ideas."

"Huge bedroom," Hailey suggested.

"Jacuzzi," Jay added. "And a big flat-screen TV."

"Video game console," Hailey laughed enthusiastically.

Both grinned. Yes, they were on the same page.

"You know, I don't think we will have any major discussions," Hailey concluded.

"No, we won't," Jay added, kissed her again.

They talked about their "perfect place" for a while longer, about what they wanted it to look like, what kind of neighborhood they would prefer, and crazy little ideas they both had. Clearly they enjoyed making plans for their future. Life couldn't be any better than this.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Day 0**

Monday morning in Chicago. The streets were already busy, and so was the 21st Precinct of the Chicago Police Department.

Sergeant Hank Voight and the Intelligence Unit were called to two crime scenes early in the morning. Voight, Atwater and Vanessa Rojas, the newest addition to their team, drove to Bridgeport to check out the scene of a shooting, and Ruzek and Burgess were on their way to Ravenswood to a robbery turned homicide of four. It was a busy morning, and it was late afternoon when they reconvened in the office. And only then they noticed that Halstead and Upton were not there. Everyone assumed that they were at the other crime scene or in the office, but they weren't.

"Has anyone heard from them?" Voight asked the team.

"No, Sarge," Adam answered. "Nothing."

"I'll call Hailey," Vanessa volunteered, while Kevin already dialed Jay's number.

Both their phones went directly to voicemail.

"Probably an exhausting weekend," Ruzek suggested with a smirk, but Voight immediately shut him off, when his phone rang. He answered, went into his office, and came back out just a few minutes later with a worried look on his face.

"That was Will Halstead on the phone," he explained. "He can't reach Jay. They were supposed to meet in the morning."

Kim called Trudy Platt downstairs, but when she hung up the phone, she shook her head, too.

"Sergeant Platt hasn't heard from them either," Kim said.

"Ping their phones," Voight ordered. "Ruzek, Atwater, you drive to their houses, see what you can find out."

"I'll call Will to see if he knows something else," Kim volunteered and called Will back right away.

"Kim?" Will picked up the phone immediately. "Did you see my brother?"

"No, we can't reach him either," Kim answered. "Why are you so sure that something's off?"

"He called me last night and asked me for our mother's ring." Will explained. "He wanted to pick it up the morning before shift. And he knew I'm on a schedule too. When he didn't come, I tried to reach him, but his phone goes to voicemail. And Hailey's too."

"Don't worry, Will. Perhaps their phones are dead, and they are having car trouble. Or they are at a crime scene. I'll call you back as soon as we know something."

She finished the call, looked up at Vanessa and Voight.

"Perhaps it is just that – car trouble and phones are off." It was clear, however, that Kim didn't believe what she said.

Voight looked at her doubtfully. "Maybe. But we'd better check."

Trudy Platt came upstairs, having seen Kevin and Adam leave in a hurry.

"What's going on? Upton and Halstead AWOL?" she asked, seemingly relaxed about it. But to those who knew her, like Intelligence did, it was clear Trudy was very much worried.

"Jay and Hailey didn't show up today. Jay's brother wanted to meet with him, and Jay didn't show up." Kim repeated. "Phones go to voicemail. Do you know if they were called to a crime scene?"

Trudy shook her head. "No, there wasn't any call they would respond to," she answered. Perhaps the two lovebirds simply overslept."

"In that case they are in for a lot of trouble," Voight grumbled. But it seemed clear that he didn't consider that as a possibility.

"Phones cannot be located," Vanessa informed the others. "They seem to be switched off completely."

Voight grumbled, clearly concerned.

* * *

Kevin and Adam drove to Jay's apartment first. No car outside. Nevertheless, they decided to go inside and opened the door with the spare key Jay kept in the office. They entered quietly, checking each room. Nothing. Everything looked normal, clean and neat. If Jay and Hailey had spent the weekend here, nothing had disturbed the peace and they had left after cleaning up. Nothing out of the ordinary.

The two men checked the place for phones but found nothing. No phone, no keys, no guns. Everything was just like it was supposed to be when Jay had left for work.

They drove to Hailey's house next, trying over and over again to reach either of them by phone. On the way Adam called Voight, gave him a heads-up.

Hailey's car stood in front of the house, but not Jay's truck. That would not be unusual, because they drove to work together in one car most of the time, had done that even before they were a couple. Still, Adam carefully approached the car, looked inside.

Hailey's car was locked, nothing inside. They didn't have a spare key for the car and didn't want to break in, so they went to the door first. Probably Hailey kept a car key somewhere. Again, they entered with the key Hailey, just like Jay, kept in the office. And again, the result was inconspicuous. Everything looked just like on any given day. Quickly they checked all rooms. First downstairs, two mugs and plates in the sink, clearly from a quick breakfast earlier that day. Nothing else.

Upstairs – the bedroom. Neat too, but here you could see that two people had slept here. Spare clothes in a corner. Clothes in the wardrobe, suitcases and bags where they were supposed to be. Bathroom fully equipped, nothing missing. Still nothing out of the ordinary. Adam and Kevin looked at each other.

"Everything normal," Adam concluded. "Where are they?"

Downstairs in the living room they saw an open laptop, and Kevin decided to bring it in. They checked all the rooms again, looking for any traces, any explanation of what had happened. But they didn't find a thing. No guns, no badges, no wallets, no phones.

On the way out, Adam grabbed the spare key to Hailey's car, looked inside. No success either.

They drove back to the office.

* * *

At 21st, the others already waited for them, the unit plus Trudy Platt.

"So, where are we?" Voight asked, and it was clear now that even he was worried. He didn't believe in car trouble. "What do we know about Jay and Hailey's weekend?"

"We all saw them last on Saturday night at Molly's," Kim started. "They didn't have any plans for Sunday, as far as I know. They wanted to stay at home. Will talked to his brother briefly on Sunday night. He said Jay asked him for his mother's ring, wanted to pick it up this morning."

Adam looked at Kim. "Jay wanted to propose," he said quietly. "No way he ran away."

Kim shook her head. "No, not Jay." Adam quickly rolled his eyes, as if he wanted to say something, but didn't.

"Did Will say when they wanted to meet?" he asked.

"8:30 am," Kim answered. "Right before shift. Jay didn't show up."

"That means after last night, 9 pm, when Jay talked to his brother, we know nothing of their whereabouts." Voight said.

"They spent the night at Hailey's place," Kevin added. "They must have been there in the morning. Hailey's car is still there, Jay's truck is gone. So are guns, badges, keys, phones."

"So, whatever happened, happened after they left for work this morning. Presumably around 8 am." Kevin said.

"All right, put a BOLO out for Jay's car, check traffic cameras on the way from Hailey's place to Med. Jay and Hailey cannot just vanish into thin air!" Voight ordered. "Kim, go and talk to Will Halstead. Adam, you and Sergeant Platt drive back to Hailey's neighborhood, ask neighbors, knock on doors. Someone must have seen them. I will send crime techs over. Kevin, you bring the laptop down to the tech lab, and then you check traffic cameras. Check airports, train stations, all that. Vanessa, you check their open and closed cases. Anyone released from prison recently? Also, see if you can find any friends and relatives. I will make some phone calls."

* * *

"What's going on?" Will Halstead came running from the emergency department of Med into the waiting area, approaching Kim Burgess. "Where's my brother?"

"Will, keep calm," Kim almost automatically answered. "Currently we don't know. Can we talk somewhere in private?"

"Sure," Will took her arm and guided her to the doctors' lounge, sat down and looked at Kim expectantly.

"Jay and Hailey haven't shown up at work today," Kim said. "We can't reach them, just like you. Adam and Kevin already checked their houses, no trace."

"But how can that happen?" Will wanted to know.

"Can you think of anything?" Kim asked again. "Would they leave just like that? Any place where they would go?"

"Kim, with all due respect," Will was clearly impatient. "My brother asked me for our mother's ring. That's a big deal. He obviously wanted to propose to Hailey. He wouldn't just drop that. Or do you think they would be so dumb and leave for Las Vegas?"

"Calm down, Will. Please. No, we don't think they would just leave without a word. That's why I'm here. So please, if you can think of anything, please let me know."

Will nodded, then thought about what Kim had said. Finally, he shook his head. "No, sorry. You know that we don't spend much time together. We have no family left. But Jay's not the kind of guy to just leave, that much I know. Especially now, with Hailey."

"I know. Will, could you make a list of all relatives, any friends of Jay's you remember? Just in case. Probably the two of them will show up in a few hours, as if nothing has happened, but if not…"

* * *

Back at 21st, Kevin took the laptop to the tech guys, and it didn't take long before they could access all data. Kevin was back upstairs quickly, a piece of paper in his hand.

"Look, guys," he said. "They booked flights to Paris, France, for today."

"What?" Both Voight and Platt looked at him incredulously.

"Seriously?" Voight grabbed the printout, looked at it. "Two tickets from O'Hare to Paris, right. Jay Halstead and Hailey Upton. Check with the airline, check the airport parking lots. And Kevin, let the tech guys find out when and where these tickets were booked."

"You don't think they booked them in person?" Kevin wanted to know.

Voight shook his head. "No. Jay can be pretty inconsiderate at times, but not that inconsiderate. And Hailey definitely wouldn't do something like that."

"Someone wants us to think they took a trip," Trudy added. "I'm sure Jay's truck is at the airport."

Kevin called his tech guy again, asked him to find out more about this strange flight booking.

* * *

_This idea came to me long before the PD Fall Finale 2019 was on the table, so any similarities are purely a coincidence. It will not be the same story, be assured, even if it does sound a bit similar right now._


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Day 1**

Jay Halstead slowly woke up to a splitting headache, his head wasn't ready to be awake.

He didn't know where he was or what had happened. All he knew was that his body hurt, that he was lying down, hardly able to move.

Reluctantly he opened his eyes. The light was dim, and it took him a while to realize he was in a windowless room with just a small light bulb. He was lying on a mattress, and when he tried to move, he noticed that his right hand was chained to the wall. _What the…? _He had some space to move, but not much.

Then it hit him. Where was Hailey? He looked around frantically in the dim room, then he saw her. Hailey way lying on another mattress, chained to the wall just like him, not moving.

"Hailey?" he whispered tentatively, his voice hoarse. He crawled across the room, as far as possible, but couldn't reach her.

"Hailey!" he said louder now. And again. "Hailey, wake up! Please!"

Was she ok? A sick feeling spread in his stomach.

He couldn't reach her, but when he stretched as much as possible, his foot could barely touch the mattress she was lying on, so he tried to kick it. Anything to make her wake up. After several attempts to kick the mattress and a few louder yells, Hailey finally stirred. She moaned as if in pain, slowly turned towards him and squinted.

"Jay?" she whispered.

"Thank God you're alive," Jay sighed. "How do you feel?"

"Sore, headache," she answered weakly. "What happened?"

She struggled to sit up, noticed the chain and gave it an irritated look. Then she looked around. The room was almost empty, safe for the mattresses they were lying on, and a bucket in another corner. No window, just a heavy steel door.

Slowly she tried to move closer to Jay. He immediately did the same. Both moved as far as their chains allowed and pushed their mattresses with them. Their hands touched, but they could not get closer to each other.

Jay held Hailey's hand tight, determined to not let it go. It was reassuring to feel the other. They leaned against the cold wall, holding hands.

Jay shook his head, exhausted and scared.

"Hailey, I don't remember what happened. I have no idea how we ended up here." He sounded as if he thought it was his fault.

Hailey shook her head. "I'm thirsty," she said weakly.

"Yeah," Jay agreed.

Hailey looked pale and tired, disheveled hair, no jacket or shoes. Jay realized he probably looked just as worn, and his shoes and jacket were missing too. So was his belt. Phone, badge, gun – all missing.

* * *

While he was still trying to make sense of it, the door opened. Outside the lights were bright, so the person that was standing in the door was nothing but a big black shadow. When he entered, Jay noticed heavy black boots, a bulky black jumpsuit, black ski mask. He couldn't even say if it was a man or a woman. The person looked first at Hailey, then at Jay, nodded. Then placed a large tray on the floor, with two bowls and two plastic mugs, shoved it across the room towards his captives; after that he turned around and left.

"Wait!" Jay shouted. "What are we doing here? Why did you bring us here? Who are you?"

The person turned back, looked at Jay, shook his head, left the room and locked the door again.

They waited but nothing happened. What was that?

Hailey moved across the room, pulled the tray closer. Just like she hoped, the bowls contained food, the mugs water.

"You think it's safe?" Jay asked.

"We have no choice, Jay." Hailey answered. "I am so thirsty, and if they wanted us dead, there would be easier solutions than poisoning us."

She took one mug, handed the other to Jay. Cautiously she sipped the liquid. Water. Ordinary water, tasting normal. As bad as she felt, she was careful enough to not drink all the water at once. She placed it back on the tray, then grabbed the bowls. She had no idea how long they had been here, but the smell of food made her hungry. She handed the second bowl to Jay, who was still reluctant to take it.

"Eat, Jay." Hailey said. "We need our strength. And we don't know when we will get anything else."

"We don't know anything," he answered quietly.

Hailey looked at him. Jay looked bad: dirty, tired, and discouraged. She had never seen him like that. She felt just as scared and irritated as Jay, but she knew she couldn't give in to that.

The food in the bowl was some kind of stew, lukewarm. Tentatively Hailey grabbed a bit with her fingers, ate it. It wasn't bad. Still she had a bad feeling, Jay didn't touch the food, he just stared at it. His mind was somewhere completely different. He tried to make sense of what was happening, without success.

"Jay, eat!" Hailey repeated. She noticed that she sounded a lot more confident and stronger than she felt. She just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry, but that was out of the question. She saw that Jay wasn't good, and she needed to be strong for him.

Jay was in a bad state indeed, but he was worried more for Hailey than for himself. He had endured bad stuff before: fights in Afghanistan, abductions. He would pull through somehow. But Hailey, he needed to get her out of here. He couldn't be responsible if anything bad happened to her. What could he do?

So, out of sheer desperation they both ate the food, had a bit of the water, then sat back against the wall, holding hands, thinking.

They didn't speak a lot, both were lost in thoughts. Also, their bodies hurt, they were tired and exhausted.

* * *

Jay still couldn't remember how they got here. He remembered Sunday – the perfect Sunday with Hailey. He remembered that he called Will in the evening, asking for their mother's ring. He had contemplated proposing to Hailey for a while, but the talk about getting a new place together was the final confirmation he needed.

He remembered going to sleep. But that was it. He didn't remember what happened in the morning, if or when met with his brother, or even getting up.

* * *

Hailey couldn't remember either, and right now she tried to focus on other things. She sensed that Jay needed some time to think, so she concentrated on figuring out what to do herself. She looked around, tried to find weak spots in this room.

Could they figure out where exactly they were?

There was no sound, nothing that gave them any idea of their whereabouts.

Why were they here?

This was still very much unclear. As long as their captor didn't speak, they wouldn't get any information.

And most important – how could they get out of here?

They were chained to the wall. The end of the chain was embedded in the wall, nothing to remove just by pulling hard enough. And the cuff around her wrist was too narrow to slip her hand out of it. They had no tools of any kind. The room only had this one steel door, no lock from the inside. There was a tiny hole in the ceiling, presumably for air – or so she hoped.

The only chance to get out would be when their captor was inside – if they could overpower him.

To be honest, the situation was pretty much desperate.

* * *

The door opened again, their captor stood in the doorway. This time with a gun in his hands.

"Against the wall!" he ordered – voice changed by a scrambler.

Jay and Hailey both looked at the captor, moved a bit back against the wall.

"You left – you right!" the captor waved with the gun to each corner. Then aimed at Hailey, while approaching Jay. "You move, she dies!"

Jay's eyes widened, he wanted to protect Hailey at any cost. Perhaps he had a chance?

"Turn around! Face and hands against the wall!"

Jay obeyed reluctantly.

"Faster, or I'll shoot her!"

When Jay was facing the wall, he sensed his captor coming closer, then he felt a sting. Something was injected into his arm. He felt panic rising, and it took all his willpower to remain calm.

The captor retreated.

Jay heard steps moving away from him, then another yelled command, this time towards Hailey.

"Face and hands against the wall! Obey, or I'll shoot him!"

Jay slowly moved a bit, noticed that he felt a bit woozy. Probably he was drugged.

He heard Hailey cry out. A sound that made his heart ache more than he would ever have imagined.

The footsteps retreated, and the door was shut.

Jay turned around. It cost him all his strength. Yes, he was definitely drugged. And one look at Hailey showed him, that she was drugged too. Her face showed how she tried to keep her panic at bay while keeping her eyes open. He sat down, reached out to her hand, held tight to Hailey's hand. And then he lost consciousness.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Day 2**

It was two days now that Jay and Hailey had vanished, and still there was no trace of them. The 21st precinct was in a state of emergency.

They had located Jay's truck in one of the more remote parking lots of O'Hare Airport and brought it in.

The plane tickets were valid, but there was no record of Jay and Hailey boarding the respective plane to Paris. It was only a red herring. The IT specialists were working on Jay's laptop, trying to find out who had bought the tickets, but it was not straightforward and would take more time. The person who had done this was not an amateur.

In the morning Superintendent Crawford stormed into the office, followed by Trudy Platt, who made it very clear what she thought of this surprise visit.

Voight greeted him and led him into his office. "Superintendent, what can I do for you?" he asked.

"What's this about two of your officers missing?" Crawford asked.

"Hm," Voight answered. "Two of my detectives are missing, that's true."

"Word is they took a trip overseas?" Crawford didn't even wait for Voight to say more. "Listen, if they just left, then they have one week to come back. If they don't show up here next week, they are fired."

"Superintendent, with all due respect," Voight protested. "They did not take a trip overseas, they are missing. We are doing our best to find them. I can vouch for them, they did not just run away."

"Until I have actual evidence of a crime, they are officially AWOL." Crawford insisted. "And they will be out of a job if they don't show up in one week from now."

With that he turned around and left the office.

Voight stood by the window with raised eyebrows. There was a lot he wanted to say, but he kept quiet, for the moment.

* * *

As soon as Crawford was on his way, Voight left his office and joined the team.

"Hank, I am so sorry," Trudy Platt said. "I told him they didn't just run."

"Don't worry, Trudy," Voight answered. "Not about him anyway. We need to find Jay and Hailey."

Adam rose from his chair. "Sarge, the techs swept Jay's car," he explained. "Unfortunately they didn't find anything. It seems the person that drove the car, whoever it was, wiped it clean top to bottom. Strange thing is that there are NO fingerprints whatsoever inside or outside. Not even Jay's. No blood, no traces of DNA. That means someone took care of it. If Jay and Hailey had left the car there, they would have left their fingerprints."

"That is the evidence Crawford required," Kim said.

"It's not enough for him," Trudy answered.

"What else have we got?" Voight asked again.

"Traffic camera footage," Kevin added. "We found footage of Jay and Hailey driving to Med on Monday morning. They entered the parking garage but parked in a spot without camera coverage. 30 Minutes later the car left the parking garage, but we cannot recognize the driver. There are several traffic cameras on the way to O'Hare, and in some pictures we can see that it was not Jay behind the wheel. But even with the best software we cannot get a clear image. It's a white person, that's all we can say."

Kevin put the picture up on the whiteboard. It showed a very blurry image of a white shape, the sun visor covered most of the face. It was absolutely nothing.

"We could follow the trace of Jay's truck to the parking lot, but again, behind the entrance there are no cameras. The parking lot was chosen with care. Within the next two hours no cars leave the lot. If the driver left on foot, there are lots of possibilities to leave without being caught on camera. If Jay and Hailey were in the truck and were moved to another car, this car wasn't taken out of the lot for hours."

"Check all the cars that left the lot after Jay's truck arrived. If necessary, we pay all these people a visit. And if necessary, check all cars that have been in the lot before Jay's truck arrived and are still there."

"We should also check all cars that left the Med parking garage," Vanessa suggested. "Perhaps they were already in another car back then."

"Right," Voight agreed. "And go through all camera footage of all entrances and exits to Med. It's a long shot, but who knows. What about their cases?"

"We have a few suspects, people that were arrested by either of them and were released recently. Nothing sticks out," Vanessa answered. "Kevin and I can check them all out, but it will take some time."

"We don't have time!" Voight almost barked at her, then calmed down. "Hit it! Kim, Adam – you verify owners of all cars, make a list, crosscheck them with our databases, and check every trace, as insignificant as it may seem."

* * *

Voight returned to his office, followed by Trudy Platt. She closed the door behind her, sat down opposite Voight.

Voight almost slumped in is chair, looked very disheartened. He shook his head. "Trudy, I can't find my guys. And I ran out of ideas. We did so much already, but there is no trace of them."

She just nodded. "I know, Hank."

"I can't lose them. They are my family, my kids. I'm responsible."

"I know," she repeated. "Hank, if anyone can find them, it will be you and your team. You are always the one to remind others to concentrate on the task ahead. Do that. You've got the best team in Chicago, and all my officers will help whenever needed. We will find them."

"They didn't just run off to Vegas or Paris," Voight repeated, untypically insecure.

"Of course not. But if they did, I will pay for the champagne when they are back. Hank, we will find them," Trudy reassured him. "You will not lose them. Jay and Hailey are strong, they will be back in no time. And Crawford will not kick them out."

Voight rose from his chair, looked outside at the remaining team. None of them had gotten any sleep the night before, and they didn't plan to rest before they had their colleagues back. None wanted to even contemplate the notion that they might not be alive anymore. Dead cops would not just vanish, they would show up in a very public place.

No, they would be alive, had to be. And they would find them.

* * *

Jay woke up, and not much had changed. He was lying on the same mattress, which at least was clean, in the same dim room, and Hailey was lying on another mattress. Even the headache was still there. So was the thirst. He moved into a sitting position, called out to Hailey.

When she didn't react immediately, he was afraid something had happened – were the drugs too much for her? What if...? No, he couldn't think that!

He moved towards her, and noticed that his chain was longer, he could almost reach her with his hands. Very carefully he touched her body with his foot; her leg felt warm, and he could see that she was breathing. Good. He continued to caress her leg with his foot, trying to wake her up but not to kick her.

"Hailey, honey, wake up!" he whispered, realized that there was no point in whispering, and repeated, louder, "Wake up, hon! Please!"

Hailey stirred and opened her eyes. This time she knew immediately where she was, and the initial sparkle in her eyes when she heard Jay's voice was quickly replaced by sadness. Still a captive.

"I think we have more space to move," Jay said. "Try it, come to me, hon."

She nodded weakly, sat up and crawled towards Jay. Indeed, they could touch now. For some reason their captor had given them the possibility to be closer. Later they would have to check out if they could reach the door, or the air hole. Not that this would help them much, but it would give them something to do, Jay thought.

But right now all he wanted was to hold Hailey. As soon as she was near, he pulled her into a one-armed embrace – the other hand stretched out on the chain.

Hailey wrapped her free arm around his waist, to be as close to his comforting body as possible. She buried her head in his chest. Jay planted a soft kiss on her head, held her tight. For a long time they didn't move, just sought comfort in each other.

What did their captor want? Why did he allow them to sit close now? What game was he playing? And how would they be able to make it out of here?

"I wish I knew why we're here," Hailey said after a while. "At least make sense of it."

"We will, eventually," Jay answered. "Something is bound to happen soon. Just keeping us here for days with nothing happening, that's pointless. Either they want a ransom, or they want…" he didn't finish the sentence. If they wanted them dead, why were they still alive? Jay didn't want to even think about that, and he wanted Hailey to contemplate that even less.

"But what could it be?" Hailey asked.

"Ransom," Jay answered.

"But from whom? Who would pay ridiculous amounts of money for us?"

"Revenge?"

"Then why are we still alive?"

"Perhaps they want to torture us?"

"No, Jay, don't even think that." Hailey insisted. "What do they want to achieve by keeping us here?"

"Perhaps they want to blackmail PD?"

"There would be more effective ways – more important people. It makes no sense at all."

"I still think someone wants revenge," Jay said. "Perhaps someone was released from jail recently, someone we busted."

"In that case Voight will find us. He will look into that at first."

"What can we do?"

"Try to make our captor talk." Hailey suggested. "Perhaps if we reason with him… don't look at me like that, Jay. I know it's a long shot. But we have to try. Perhaps we can get out of the chains, open the door somehow. But that takes time."

Suddenly Hailey shivered. Jay noticed that it was not exactly warm in their room. He tried to pull her closer, to keep her warm.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Day 3**

Their captor opened the door unexpectedly, again dressed all in black with a ski mask covering his whole head. He tilted his head when he saw Jay and Hailey holding each other close.

"How cute," the mechanic voice said with what was supposed to be a sarcastic twist.

He put another tray on the floor, exchanged the bucket for a clean one.

"Please, don't go!" Hailey said when he turned around.

The head turned back, looked at Hailey curiously.

"Please, what do we have to do to leave?" Hailey continued. "Please tell me!"

The only answer was a bitter laugh, and the captor left the room.

* * *

Voight and his team were working frantically on any leads they could find, anything that would give them a hint where Jay and Hailey could be. Each of them had only slept a few hours on the couch in the breakroom, they didn't go home, but followed each ever so slight trace. Still it was a terrible feeling to not know a thing.

They had visited Med, checked all cameras, but found nothing useful. Together with patrol officers they canvassed the parking garage thoroughly – without any results. All cars that had left after Jay and Hailey had entered were traced back to their owners, compared that to the list of criminals from Jay and Hailey's cases – no match. They did the same for all the cars in Med, after that for all the cars in the parking lot at O'Hare. Nothing.

Vanessa and Kevin had started contacting all the criminals from Jay and Hailey's cases. Until now they had contacted half of them – nothing. Everyone had either an alibi or was out of state.

Three days and still no trace of the two detectives.

* * *

Today the unit together with other police officers from 21st and Severide and Kidd from Firehouse 51 were at the parking lot close to O'Hare. They hadn't obtained a warrant to search all cars, but they had enough experience and technical equipment to determine if a body was in one of the trunks. And if they had the slightest suspicion, they wouldn't hesitate.

The few travelers that frequented this parking lot in the early morning were surprised by the amount of police, but nobody refused to have their cars checked. Nothing.

It took the unit all morning to investigate all the cars, but the result was not promising. No bodies found, which of course was good news in itself.

Suddenly a uniformed cop yelled out. "Over here!"

Kevin and Adam were the first to run and arrive at where the young man was standing.

"What is it?" Adam wanted to know, then followed the way the man's finger was pointing.

"A phone. No idea to whom it belongs, but..."

"Great, thank you." Kevin interrupted him. "We'll take it from here."

No matter if it was in fact Jay's phone or Hailey's – it was the first glimmer of hope, the first possible trace. Kevin produced a plastic bag and carefully put the phone inside. "I'll bring it inside personally," he decided and was on his way.

Just like Mouse had taught the unit years ago, Kevin didn't attempt to switch the phone on, as he didn't know who might have tampered with it. He was at the lab in no time, gave it to the best lab rat he knew, a guy named Jake.

"What can I do for you, Kev?" Jake asked.

"This phone was found in the parking lot at O'Hare, where Jay's car was parked." Kevin explained. "It might be totally unrelated, but it may be Jay's or Hailey's phone – or belong to the person who kidnapped them. Please do all you can to find something. Anything."

"OK," Jake nodded. "I will first talk to the lab, we will check for prints, DNA, inside and out. And then I will work my magic." He attempted a grin, but Kevin just stared at him, not in the mood for loose talk or even jokes.

"By the way, your magic," he said instead. "Any news on the laptop? Who booked the tickets?"

"We're still working on that. Someone did a lot of work to make it look like Jay bought them. We will get through to this, please have patience."

"We don't have time, Jake!" Kevin insisted. "I don't have any patience, it's my friends that are missing! I was held captive too, I know what it feels like! And I know that without my friends I wouldn't have survived!"

"I get you, Kev," Jake confirmed. "We will work as fast as we can. But we have to be thorough."

* * *

Jay and Hailey had been drugged again; but when Jay woke up this time, he was in for a shock. He was alone in the room. Still chained to the wall, still two mattresses, but no Hailey. He wanted to stand up, bang his fist or better his head into the wall, yell – but instead he slumped in the corner.

What had they done to Hailey? Why was he alone? With her in here he could at least try to be strong, had a reason to be strong, but now... He wouldn't be able to survive if they had done something to her.

It didn't take long before the door opened and showed his captor, who presented him with another surprise.

The captor was not wearing a ski mask anymore, the head was uncovered. It was a woman. In her early 20s, tall, very muscular arms, dark hair of medium length, average looking, not someone you would notice out in the streets. Without the nasty grin on her face she might have been relatively pretty, but the grin gave her a threatening appearance.

"Missing someone?" she asked sarcastically.

"Where's Hailey? What have you done to her?"

"Nothing. Your... your girl is fine."

"Where is she?"

"None of your business."

"What do you want from us?"

"Now that's a different story," the woman said. "But first you must know the rules: you behave – nothing will happen to her. You don't behave – she will suffer. Understood?"

Jay nodded.

The woman sat down on the floor, out of his reach.

"You know who I am?"

Jay shook his head. "Should I?"

"Wrong! I ask, you answer. And yes, you should."

Jay stared at the woman. Had he arrested her at one point? If he had, she had changed a lot or it had been a long time ago, he couldn't remember, as much as he tried.

"Please," Jay said again. "Don't hurt Hailey. I don't know who you are or what I might have done to you, but please let Hailey go. I will do whatever you want."

The smirk got wider. "You won't have a choice, Jay."

"What do you want me to do?"

She stood up, looked down on him. "Think and try to remember who I am. If you do, I might give you a reward." She blew him a kiss, which made him shudder.

* * *

And he was alone again. He leaned back against the wall, let his head fall on his knees. How should he do this alone? He didn't know who this woman was, what connection they should have. He tried hard to remember who this woman was, but as much as he tried, he had no idea. He needed to focus, he needed to stay alert, that much he knew. If he wanted to get himself and Hailey out of here, however impossible that seemed, he needed to stop himself from falling into desperation. They were alive, and they would stay alive.

He let his mind wander to last Sunday, to the time spent with Hailey. He needed to think of something good. The day had been almost perfect, they had been so close, talked, joked, played, had fun, had just been together. He remembered how he finally had decided to propose, how he had called Will, who had immediately volunteered to hand the ring over to his brother. It seemed that in the end it was in fact Jay, who would get married first. For the first time in his life, Jay had no doubts, none at all. He knew he wanted to spend his whole life with Hailey, and he was certain she felt the same. He would tell her all that when they would be together again, he needed her to know. They would buy a new place, they would get married, and they would live happily ever after. This had to happen.

Jay started to imagine how he would propose, how he would get down on his knee and show Hailey the ring. How she would say yes. He imagined celebrating their engagement with the best bottle of champagne he could get, in a fancy restaurant, both dressed up, he in the perfect suit, Hailey in a drop-dead-gorgeous dress. He could see it in front of his inner eye. That was what would happen!

His mind wandered to the place they would buy. Jay imagined a nice, large enough house, not too big though; all the furniture she would want. He would gladly agree to anything Hailey liked, anything. Kids – perhaps they would have kids. They hadn't talked about it yet, so he wasn't sure. He wasn't sure if he felt ready for a kid, but if Hailey wanted kids, then he would do his best to be the best husband and father the world had ever seen. And if she didn't want kids – fine too. The two of them would still have the perfect life.

He wanted nothing more than grow old with her. Spend evenings on the porch, watching the sunset, all the cheesy images he used to hate. But now all that seemed more desirable than anything. Heck, he wanted to take his bike, and drive across the USA with Hailey riding shotgun, travel the world with her, do all kinds of crazy things with Hailey.

And to do all that he needed to stay alive. He would find a way out of here.

Jay dozed off, and he flinched when the door opened again, and an unconscious Hailey was being shoved inside. The now familiar gun was pointed at him, and he didn't move, while their captor chained Hailey to the wall.

When the captor was back at the door, she looked at Jay. "Do you remember?"

"No," he said quietly. "Please don't hurt her, please! Give me some more time."

She laughed bitterly, then locked the door behind herself.

Jay hurried towards Hailey, pulled her closer. The chains were long enough so that they could sit next to each other. But Hailey was still drugged and unconscious, and she didn't wake up, when Jay dragged her towards him. He lay down next to her, kissed her softly, caressed her hair.

"Hailey, hon, wake up, please! I won't leave you alone, I won't let her hurt you. Please Hailey, stay with me."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Day 4**

Jay must have fallen asleep, because he woke up to seeing Hailey next to him, watching him, running her fingers through his hair.

"Hey," he murmured in a sleepy haze, then realized where they were. He sat up. "You ok?"

Hailey smiled. "Yes, babe, I'm ok. And you?"

"Not sure. Not injured, not drugged, but ok – no. Not until we're out of here."

"I know."

"Where were you?"

"I…" Hailey stuttered, "What? I was here, Jay. But I remember feeling strange. More drugs?"

"What happened? When I came to, you were gone. Where did she take you?"

"She?" Hailey looked perplexed. "It's a woman? Did you see her?"

"Yes, I did." Jay quickly told Hailey what had happened.

She looked at him, thinking. "And do you know who she is?"

"No idea."

"OK, we need to figure that out."

"Yes, but first tell me what happened to you, hon." Jay insisted. "Did she do anything to you?"

"No, she didn't. At least not that I would know. I don't even remember being someplace else. She used me to intimidate you, to make you afraid. A sick mind-game."

"And you are ok now?" Jay asked again, caressing her arm.

"As much as I can be, I guess," Hailey answered. "These drugs make me feel as if my head was floating."

"Yeah, I know."

Jay pulled her as close as possible, and Hailey let her head rest on his chest.

"Hailey, we will get out of here, I promise."

* * *

In the 21st precinct, everyone was working hard, leaving no stone unturned, to find Jay and Hailey. It was early in the morning of Friday, day 4 after their disappearance, and it didn't look good at all. They all knew the statistics – after two days chances of finding someone sank dramatically. But they didn't intend to give up hope, not until they found their two friends and colleagues.

Kevin Atwater was just on his way outside, when his phone rang.

"Atwater."

"Kevin, it's Jake," the technician answered. "We might have found something."

"I'm on my way," Kevin almost barked into the phone. "Sarge, the lab. They've got something."

"I'll come with you," Voight immediately decided and didn't even wait for an answer before he went downstairs.

* * *

Jake expected them, staring at several computer screens.

"What is it?" Voight asked without even greeting Jake. "What have you found?"

"There are traces of DNA on the phone," Jake said. "And it's not Jay or Hailey."

"So, what if the phone belongs to someone who has nothing to do with this?" Kevin wanted to know.

"It's Jay's phone," Jake answered. "We can confirm that. It was wiped clean, so no fingerprints, but this time your kidnapper wasn't thorough. There is some DNA our guys could isolate."

"And?" Voight asked impatiently.

"The lab ran the DNA right away, but there is no direct match in the criminal databases." Jake explained. When Voight and Kevin wanted to interrupt, he stopped them. "However, we will run a match to check for a relative. This will take longer, and it is less accurate, but in the end we might find someone who is related to our kidnapper."

"And that narrows down our list of suspects." Kevin added. "How long does it take?"

"We'll have results by the end of the day," Jake said. "That's the best the team can do. They have worked all night already."

"Anything else you found on Jay's phone?" Voight wanted to know.

"The phone was switched of on Monday morning, 9:10am. Last location was Chicago Med."

"So someone attacked them in the parking garage," Voight concluded. "Just like we thought."

"And that someone switched off all phones, both their work phones and their private ones. Jay's private phone may have dropped on the ground without anyone noticing." Kevin added. "Or Jay managed to throw it away deliberately."

"That means the only thing we have right now is DNA, which is not in our system." Voight said. "Hurry to give us more information, we will continue our search."

* * *

Jay and Hailey were drugged again shortly after Hailey had been returned, and when Jay woke up, he was alone. This time with some food and water, and the captor sitting in the doorway.

"Anything you want to tell me, Jay?" she asked with a smug grin.

Jay just stared at her.

"Jay, I told you before – you should behave. Otherwise your girl will suffer. Let's try again. Is there anything you want to tell me, Jay?"

Jay shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I don't know who you are," he answered quietly. "I am sorry, I don't remember you. Did I arrest you at some point? Did I hurt you? Help me to remember? Did I do anything wrong?"

"No, you did not arrest *me*," the captor answered.

"What's your name?" Jay asked.

"That's for you to remember."

"But what if I don't remember?" Jay tried hard to keep calm, at least on the outside.

"Your girl will be punished, because you still don't do what you should."

Jay couldn't stop his eyes from widening in fear. He got a grin for an answer.

The captor stared at him for a few more minutes, then left, leaving a puzzled Jay.

He grabbed the food, drank the water, knowing that she would take all leftovers away the next time she'd come. He wasn't hungry, but he needed to eat. That much he knew.

Who was she?

* * *

After an eternity, Hailey was brought back, unconscious and drugged. Jay didn't bother looking at the captor while she chained Hailey to the wall again, didn't care that she took the bowl and mug away.

Hailey didn't look all well, so Jay immediately pulled her closer. She was shivering.

"Hailey, honey, wake up!" Jay whispered, wrapped her in his arms. If only the shivering stopped! She was cold. Of course, she didn't have any shoes, no jacket, and it wasn't exactly warm in here. Jay rubbed Hailey's arms, trying to make her wake up and warm up. After a while she moaned softly, her eyelids fluttered.

"Jay?"

"Yes, love," he whispered, pulling her closer. "How are you?"

"Cold," she replied weakly.

"I'll keep you warm," Jay said, holding her as close as possible with the chains still attached to their wrists.

The shivering stopped, and Hailey opened her eyes, looked at Jay. "Thirsty."

Jay grimaced. "I don't have any water, but I kept this for you." He gave her an apple and a banana he had managed to hide. He hadn't been sure if Hailey had gotten anything to eat or drink, so he had kept this for her. Hailey nodded thankfully, slowly eating the fruit.

When Hailey had finished eating and seemed to be a bit better, she asked Jay once again about the captor.

"She said that I didn't arrest her, emphasizing that it wasn't her," Jay said. "As if I had arrested someone she knew. But I still don't have any idea."

"You think she might be a wife or girlfriend of someone you arrested and wants to punish you?" Hailey asked.

"Maybe," Jay replied. "But why does she constantly say she wants to punish you, not me? And why did she take you too? That doesn't make sense."

"Perhaps she was a victim?" Hailey suggested.

"But that's even stranger." Jay objected.

"Just think about that, Jay," Hailey insisted. "Perhaps she was, and you arrested her father, husband, whatever. She's not stable, who knows what triggered her."

"But that doesn't explain why she wants to harm you."

"This isn't logical, Jay. Nothing in this case is," Hailey said. "Just think about it, Jay, please."

"OK, I will," he gave in. "Still we must try to make it out of here, before you get worse."

"I'll be ok, Jay," Hailey said.

* * *

"You know that I wanted to pick up my mother's ring from my brother?" Jay suddenly said after a long period of silence. "I wanted to propose to you."

Hailey looked at him. "You did?" A smile formed on her lips, the first genuine smile for quite a while.

"Yes, I did. After talking about getting our place, I figured the time was right. And I wanted to make it perfect – all dressed up, candlelight dinner, champagne, all that. And now…"

"Jay," Hailey answered. "I don't need a big proposal, a candlelight dinner or champagne."

"Would you have said yes?" he asked, eyes big with fear of rejection.

"Jay, you know you don't need to ask, right?" Hailey said. "Yes, babe. You know I want to spend the rest of my life with you, don't you?"

"Let's just hope it's a long life," Jay said weakly.

Hailey shook her head. "It will be. We will be out of here. I just know. The team will find us, and we will do all we can to make them find us."

After some quiet minutes, Hailey chuckled softly. "You wanted to propose with your mother's ring?"

Jay nodded.

"I guess we're engaged now," she concluded.

"Are we?" Jay asked, then answered his own question. "I guess we are."

"And do you know if you picked up the ring?"

"I have no idea," Jay admitted. "I remember talking to Will on Sunday night, but the morning doesn't exist in my memory."

* * *

In the evening, Kevin received the long-awaited phone call from the lab. They had found a DNA match. Kevin immediately pulled the documents from the computer and put it on the whiteboard, while Adam called the rest of the team including Voight and Platt to the office.

Everyone had been waiting for something, perhaps this was the breakthrough.

Platt came running upstairs, and Voight was out of his office in no time, Vanessa and Kim were looking at Kevin expectantly.

"We have a match," Kevin explained. "Just like Jake said, the DNA from the phone itself is not in the police databases or any official databases. But we know two things: Our suspect is a woman, and a relative is in our databases." He pointed at the photo he had just put on the whiteboard. "Jackson Willis," he explained.

"Do we have a connection to Jay and Hailey?" Voight asked.

"Yes, we do," Kevin answered. "Jay arrested that guy 3 years ago. Kind of a drive-by arrest, because it wasn't our case. Jay was close when the call came over the radio, and he was first at the crime scene. This guy had beaten both his wife and his daughter badly, the wife didn't make it, the daughter was severely injured, but pulled through."

"And Willis?" Adam asked.

"He's still in prison and will remain there for a long time."

"So why would someone from his family kidnap Jay and Hailey?" Vanessa wanted to know.

"This is what we are going to find out," Voight decided. "Dig into the family, houses, cars, their cell phone records, bank statements, all that."

"I could check out the daughter," Platt volunteered. "I think I remember her. Perhaps she can help."


	7. Chapter 7

**_Merry Christmas everyone. Thank you for your great reviews, enjoy the next chapter_**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**Day 5**

The unit had had another almost sleepless night, and on Saturday morning they had checked out all the immediate family of Jackson Willis.

They had found a last known address for Willis' daughter, Maria, and some further information. After the assault and her mother's death, Maria had spent time in a psychiatric facility, had dealt with depression and anxiety. She had admitted herself, therefore when she wanted to leave after 6 months, nobody could hold her back, even though the report said she was still unstable.

Trudy Platt and Kim Burgess drove to the address early in the morning, hoping to get some information.

They arrived in the middle-class neighborhood early on the Saturday morning, but they didn't care if Maria Willis might still be asleep.

Trudy knocked on the door determinedly. "Chicago PD, open up!" she yelled. There was noise inside, but nobody seemed to approach the door. Patience wasn't an option.

"Open up, or we'll break the door!" Trudy yelled again, louder.

Now they heard footsteps approaching and the door was opened by a woman in her early 20s, wearing denims and a loose-fitting shirt.

"What can I do for you, officers?" she asked

"I'm Sergeant Platt, this is Officer Burgess," Trudy explained. "We need to come inside."

"Why?"

"We have some questions to you," was the brief answer.

"Regarding what?" Maria Willis asked.

"Let us come in and we will explain," Trudy insisted.

Reluctantly the door was opened, Maria Willis moved to the side. She went into the small kitchen, leaned against the counter. "What is it?"

"We need some information regarding your father's arrest," Kim said. "Do you remember the circumstances?"

"Of course I do," Willis replied. "He killed my mother that day. This sweet policeman came and helped me, he arrested my father. Halstead, that was his name, wasn't it?"

She sounded nice, but somehow Kim shivered. Could it be that this woman was less harmless than she sounded?

"Did you see him again after that?" Kim asked.

"I think he was at the trial, as a witness."

"And after that?" Trudy asked further.

"Why? Why should I have seen him after that? I was in a hospital after that. Perhaps I saw him on the street once or twice, but I'm not sure. I wouldn't mind, though. He was very kind."

Kim and Trudy looked at each other. Both got strange vibes. They asked a few more questions, but didn't get anything, so they left.

Back in the car, Kim shuddered.

"Something is off with her," she said.

"Oh yes," Trudy agreed. "I have an idea. Burgess, drive to Med."

"OK, what do we want there?"

"Talk to Doctor Charles," Trudy explained. "He might be able to assist."

Kim nodded, and drove off, while Trudy informed Voight.

* * *

Hailey was getting worse. She was brought outside whenever Jay got food, and Jay didn't get the chance to hide anything for her anymore. The captor hadn't talked to him during the last, brief encounters, and Jay didn't know what to make of it.

Could it be that there was a camera in here? How could she know that he had hidden food for Hailey?

Whenever Hailey was in the room with Jay, he held her tight, talked about their future, painted colorful pictures of their house, their life together, just to encourage her, make her stay awake. Hailey clung to Jay with her free arm, trying hard to stay alert, to react to him. She wanted to be strong for him, but her strength was almost gone. She was constantly shivering, almost unable to keep her eyes open. Jay was close to losing his mind, he talked and talked, to Hailey and to himself. He had checked the room for any possibilities to escape, but the results were discouraging. The door was completely smooth, not even a gap between door and wall, no possibility to open it, even with tools, which he didn't have anyway. The chains were heavy and connected to a ring that was embedded in the wall, as much as he had tried, he was unable to do anything about that. Did the captor always have the key with her? Because ambushing her when she came inside might be his only chance. He might be able to strangle her with the chain. But for that he would have to be very alert, and very much awake. And if she didn't have a key at that point, he wouldn't have any advantage either. Was he strong enough to do that? Could he risk it? If it were only his own wellbeing, he wouldn't hesitate, but he had to think of Hailey. If he tried to ambush the captor and failed, Hailey's life would be in acute danger. On the other hand, if he did nothing, Hailey wouldn't hang on much longer either.

If he only remembered who the captor was. Perhaps that would help Hailey.

Again – who could she be? According to what she had said, Jay had arrested someone close to her. So, Jay thought, she might have been close to the one he had arrested, and she wanted revenge. But they had already established that in this case, she would have sought revenge on Jay. Yet she treated Jay acceptably, unlike Hailey.

Was she a victim? In that case, why kidnap them at all?

His thoughts took a turn to the weird side, suddenly. What if she was a victim with an unhealthy obsession with him? Jay decided he would try this approach the next time the captor talked to him.

He whispered his conclusions in Hailey's ear, to keep her awake, and she nodded weakly.

"Yes, Jay, try that," she answered. "It's our only chance."

"And if that doesn't work, I will attack her." Jay answered quietly, with a menacing tone in his voice. "I will get us out of here, I promise."

"I know, Jay." Hailey answered, then closed her eyes, exhausted.

* * *

Trudy and Kim arrived at Med within half an hour, and immediately ran to Doctor Charles' office. On their way, Will Halstead saw them and stopped them.

"Sarge, do you have something?" he asked.

"Perhaps we do, Will," Kim answered. "Nothing yet, but at least a trace."

"What can I do?" Will asked again. "What are you doing here?"

"Talk to Doctor Charles," Trudy said. "Will, we will inform you as soon as we have something."

"Please! It's my brother!"

Trudy nodded briefly, then they left him standing in the hallway and hurried towards Doctor Charles' office.

Fortunately he was in his office and not with a patient.

"Trudy, Kim, what can I do for you?" he asked. "Sit down. Any news on Jay and Hailey?"

"That's why we're here, Daniel," Trudy answered hastily. "We need your help."

Daniel Charles nodded.

"We have a suspect, and we need to know what kind of problems she had. She underwent psychiatric treatment, we need to know her issues."

"And how do you think…"

"We know this is not available the usual way," Kim interrupted him impatiently. "The thing is, she was the victim of domestic abuse, and she could be the one who kidnapped Jay and Hailey. So we need to find out everything!"

Daniel looked at Kim, then at Trudy. Then took the phone, made a call to a friend.

When he put the phone down, he nodded. "OK, I will be able to look into the file. But I can't give you a copy."

"When will you get it?" Trudy wanted to know. "Can I have a look? Please, Daniel!"

"It should be here in a few minutes; my friend will fax it to me. But you won't be able to use it as evidence in court or anywhere. It's just for information, and as soon as we read it, I will destroy it. It's highly illegal."

"But it's Jay and Hailey!" Kim said.

"That's why I am doing this." Daniel answered.

As promised the fax machine started working after a few – seemingly endless – minutes and spit out several pages.

Kim and Trudy looked at Daniel with barely hidden impatience.

Daniel grabbed the papers, looked over them, nodding and mumbling to himself.

"What?" Trudy asked. "Daniel, tell us!"

He raised his hand, "just a minute. This is interesting."

"Daniel, what is interesting?" Trudy almost grabbed the papers from his hands.

He leaned back in his chair. "We might indeed have something here."

"Daniel!"

"This young woman was the victim of domestic abuse, saw how her father killed her mother, and he assaulted her as well. Now here comes this dashing young Detective and saves her – that's how she sees it. The hospital report says she developed an unhealthy obsession with Jay. She sees him as her savior, talks about him constantly."

"And?" Kim wanted to know.

"She seems to think they are meant for each other."

"So she follows him and sees him with Hailey, and she flips?" Kim asked.

"Maybe." Daniel answered cautiously.

"That's enough," Trudy decided. "Thanks, Daniel. Let's go, Burgess."

On the way to their car, Trudy called Voight and told him what they had found out. They decided to drive back to Maria Willis' house and meet the unit there. They would search the house, warrant or not. If Voight could get an expedited warrant, fine; if not, they would go in anyway.

* * *

The captor came again and took a very exhausted and weak Hailey away. Jay crouched in a corner, when the captor came back.

"Now, do you know who I am?" she asked smugly.

"I might," Jay answered tentatively. "I think I remember that I saved you. A long time ago."

"That might be correct," was the answer.

"But why are you keeping us here? I helped you!"

"And that's what you should do," she answered. "You should not have started dating that… chick."

"What?" Jay began to understand, very slowly. "You mean… you're jealous of Hailey?"

"She has no place in your life," she answered. "You know there's a saying that if you save someone's life, you're responsible for that person for the rest of your life. You didn't obey that rule."

"But…"

"No buts," she interrupted Jay. "You failed to carry out your duty. She must go."

"And if I break up with her," Jay answered quickly. "Will you let her go?"

"That has to be decided," she said. "Perhaps I will allow her to eat and drink. And I might give her a blanket. If you remember my name."

Jay had anticipated the question, and suddenly he knew where they had met. "Maria!"

She nodded, for the first time with a genuine smile. "You earned your reward." Maria rose and left the room without any further word. She didn't even bother to close the door – Jay was not able to reach it anyway.

Jay sighed. He could see outside, there was a concrete hallway, bright lights, clean, but with no windows. He couldn't see any other doors, just the bit of the hallway. And then she came back with Hailey, placed her on the mattress, chained her to the wall. She left again and returned with the promised food and drink and a blanket.

Jay tried to talk to her again, but she didn't reply. It seemed that for now she had come far enough.


	8. Chapter 8

_**This story is coming to an end - only two more chapters. Thanks for all your positive feedback. Hope you enjoy the rest**_

* * *

**Chapter 8 **

**Day 5 – afternoon**

Hailey had been unconscious for a while, and Jay was getting more and more worried. He put the blanket over her shivering body, caressed her hair, whispered comforting words to her. He couldn't get close enough to lay down beside her and hold her in a tight embrace; he could just sit there, pull her body as close as possible to keep her warm, to make her feel that she was not alone.

Finally Hailey opened her eyes. "Jay?" she whispered hoarsely.

"Yes, love," he answered, fully awake immediately. He pulled the tray with food and water closer. "You need to drink and eat."

"Hmmm," she just uttered. "Not hungry."

"Not an option," he insisted softly. "Come on, wake up, Hailey."

Reluctantly she pulled herself up into a sitting position. "A blanket? What did you have to do for it, Jay?"

He laughed briefly. "We were right about her. This is my reward for remembering her."

"Good boy," she whispered, laughing bitterly.

"Come on, drink some water," Jay repeated and placed the mug at her lips. Obediently Hailey swallowed, but coughed immediately.

"Careful, hon. Here's some food."

"No, you have it."

"No way, Hailey." Jay disagreed. "I had some already. But you need to eat now."

"You must stay strong to get us out of here," Hailey protested.

Jay didn't have that. "I need to get you out of here alive, Hailey."

She shrugged but obeyed and had some food.

For some strange reason they never got take-out food or sandwiches, everything they got was home-cooked, and even quite good food. Jay still hoped the food was not drugged, but they didn't have a choice.

He wasn't sure if there was a microphone as well as a camera in the room, but suspected it, therefore he didn't tell Hailey much about his plans to ambush the captor (he still only thought of her as "the captor" – he didn't want to see her as a human being or former victim. She was nobody to feel pity for, she was the enemy). He needed this element of surprise, otherwise his chances to succeed would be even smaller than they were anyway. Therefore, he whispered only soothing words in Hailey's ear, telling her that he would get them out, that she needed to be strong.

When Hailey had finished eating, she leaned against him. The shivering had stopped, but it was still distressing to see how much her condition had worsened in just a few days. Her cheeks looked hollow, her face was pale, her eyes so much larger than usually. Jay assumed he looked just as bad, but he didn't want to think about it.

"Hailey, we will get out of here. And Intelligence will find us, they will help us. You will see. And when we're out, we will find a new house, and we will have the perfect home. Then we will get married and have the perfect life."

Jay just babbled, these words and others, about their future life together. He wasn't sure if he believed them, if he still had hope, but he needed Hailey to have hope. If anything happened to her, he wouldn't make it out of here, didn't want to make it out of here alive.

* * *

Trudy and Kim met with the unit by Maria Willis' house in no time. Everyone was eager to get inside. This was their best chance to find Jay and Hailey.

Voight nodded towards Trudy, they agreed that Trudy and Kim would once again approach the front door together with Vanessa, while Voight, Adam and Kevin would head around the house for any back entrance. The car that had been in the driveway earlier was gone, and when Trudy knocked, there was no sound. It seemed that Maria Willis wasn't there. Trudy and Voight agreed to break in quietly from the back. Kim would stay outside watching if Willis returned, and Trudy joined the others.

It took Voight only seconds to break the lock to the back door and they were inside. Just like before, this looked like a normal house, inhabited by a normal person. On the ground floor there was the kitchen, in which Trudy and Kim had been before, a relatively boring living room with hardly any personal items; and that was it. Kevin and Adam went upstairs, found a large bathroom and a bedroom. Carefully they checked everything, had a look in the wardrobes, but there was nothing. Everything was neat, but not personal. Didn't show much of the inhabitant's personality. Merely by chance Adam discovered something. There seemed to be a hidden door in the bedroom. He only saw it because the wallpaper looked a bit different, there was a small gap, and he had to move a sideboard. He asked Kevin to help, and within a few minutes they could open the door.

It was another large room, but the windows were locked and darkened. And when they switched on the light, Adam gasped.

Kevin was outside immediately. "Sarge, you must come upstairs!" he yelled and quickly joined Adam again.

When Voight and Platt entered the room, they stood in the doorway shocked.

The walls were covered in photos of Jay. Jay walking down the street, Jay at home sitting on his couch, close-ups of all kind. Some photos of him and Hailey. This was a shrine.

"Now we know who's behind this," Voight said. "And why…"

"But where are they now? There's no basement here, no shed or anything." Adam answered.

"Search the premises thoroughly again," Voight says. "But make sure she doesn't notice. Sergeant Platt and I will go back to 21st and have all records checked. Perhaps we will find another property owned by the family. Vanessa and Kim will stay outside. If Willis shows up and drives away again, you follow her. She might lead us to where Jay and Hailey are."

"Copy that," Adam, Vanessa, and Kevin answered simultaneously.

Adam shuddered visibly, when he looked around in the room once more. This was beyond creepy. Apart from the photos and what seemed like stuff Jay had thrown away – coffee cups, pieces of paper, even a jacket he had been missing for a while – there was nothing that gave them any information about where they could be. They searched the rest of the house carefully and thoroughly but didn't find anything. Making sure they didn't leave traces, Kevin and Adam followed Voight and Platt back to 21st. They couldn't arrest Willis when she returned, because that way they might never find out where Jay and Hailey were, so they needed to be patient and invisible. Kim and Vanessa would sit outside in their car watching the house, and the others would once again search all available records.

* * *

When Jay woke up again after another drug-induced sleep, he found that both his hands were tied and chained to the wall, his legs bound together, and he was lying on his back on the mattress. He could barely move, and when he turned his head, he saw that Hailey was chained close to the wall in the other corner. And then his vision was blocked, because Willis crouched over him.

"Look at me, Jay!" she ordered. "If you don't obey, she'll suffer, I told you that. Be a good boy."

Willis stood over Jay, and then lowered herself and sat down on his legs. She had a knife in her hands. With that knife she slowly slid open Jay's shirt, scratching his skin. Jay turned his head away, couldn't stand looking at her face. But she immediately put her free hand on his chin and moved his head back to look at her.

"Jay, look at me, or I will punish her."

Jay stared at her, trying hard not to show any signs of disgust or fear.

She ripped his shirt open, ran the knife across his chest, leaving scratches. Jay bit his lower lip.

Then suddenly she slapped him, first the right cheek, then the left. "Look at me, Jay."

"Why are you doing this?" Jay asked.

She slapped him again. "Because I need to show you that you belong to me." Willis ran her hands over his chest. "You are mine."

Jay shivered involuntarily. Willis shook her head. "You don't want to listen, do you?"

She stood up, went over to Hailey, and slapped her twice. Hailey screamed, as her head hit the wall. Willis hit her again, Hailey was just a tiny ball in the corner. Willis returned to Jay.

"Will you be a good boy now?"

Jay nodded weakly. "Please let her go."

"One more word, and I'll slit her throat." Willis hissed.

Jay bit his lip again, when she crouched over him, lowered her head and kissed him. He could hardly make himself stay calm, he was so disgusted and at the same time scared for Hailey. Her head moved down across his chest, his abdomen, and he felt her hands on his pants.

_No, not that! _

But suddenly something changed. There was a rumbling sound outside, voices. Someone was yelling. _Was that…?_

"In here!" Jay yelled. This must be Intelligence, they must have come to their rescue in just the right moment. He moved frantically, trying to shake Willis off him, to stop her from doing what she was about to do.

Then everything happened all at once. The room was full of people, there was noise, yelling. Someone pulled Willis off Jay, someone else kneeled beside him, he felt a hand on his forehead, someone touching the cuffs and chains.

"Dammit!" he heard Voight utter. "Where are the keys?"

Jay raised his head a bit, could see that his sergeant was searching the more or less lifeless body of Maria Willis. "No keys," he repeated.

Jay heard someone – Trudy Platt? – talk on the radio, asking for help.

So now they were safe, but the chains couldn't be removed? What a sick joke.

"Hailey?" he asked. "Please, how's Hailey?"

"Hailey's good," he heard Trudy say softly while she caressed his hair, and he felt how his whole mind wanted to shut down, wanted him to lose consciousness. He couldn't keep his eyes open. Hailey was alive, they were safe. That was all that mattered.

"Hey, Jay!" Trudy again. "Jay, stay with me!"

Jay couldn't help it, he dozed off, only to be waking up again when he noticed that the cuffs were removed from his hands. He opened his eyes. Severide.

"Hey, buddy," Kelly said, when he noticed that Jay had recognized him. "You're ok now, we will get you out of here. And Hailey too. Man, you scared us."

Jay nodded and dozed off again. All was good.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 - Epilogue**

A few days later Jay and Hailey were ready to leave Chicago Med. They were sitting in a room together holding hands and waiting for someone from 21st to pick them up. The unit had finally connected all the dots, and by now they had a clear picture of what exactly had happened.

* * *

After returning to 21st, Adam and Kevin searched all databases, assisted by Jake, their computer wizard, and they found that the Willis family owned another property. Maria's father had run a small garage, which had been deserted after he had been arrested. It was in a run-down industrial neighborhood with lots of empty warehouses and small factories. Not an area in which nosy neighbors would notice anything suspicious. This could be it.

The unit arrived at this garage merely half an hour after the address had been discovered, and they immediately knew that this was the place. From the outside it looked deserted, but the driveway showed tire-tracks, and all windows were blackened out thoroughly, too neatly for just an abandoned building. They broke down the door, stormed inside, and quickly saw the stairway to a basement. And then they heard Jay yelling. Now everything happened very fast. They followed Jay's voice and found the room, in which Jay and Hailey were held captive. Kevin grabbed Willis, pulled her off Jay and threw her on the ground, not caring one bit if he hurt her. Then he dragged Willis away, cuffed the almost unconscious woman and started searching her for the keys. Meanwhile Trudy crouched down next to Jay, and Adam ran across the room to where Hailey was kept; Voight called Severide for help, as they didn't find the keys or any tools to uncuff the two detectives.

The fire truck had been in the neighborhood, so Severide and Cruz arrived within just a few minutes with all the necessary tools and equipment, and they could free both Jay and Hailey. The ambulance arrived shortly after that and brought Jay and Hailey to Med.

* * *

Once again the whole unit waited for news outside the emergency department. As soon as it was clear that they weren't severely injured, they allowed themselves to relax a bit.

Voight slumped down in his chair, completely exhausted. Trudy Platt, who was just as tired, joined him.

"Hank, we found them," she said. "You did it again."

"Hm yeah," Voight answered. "Another close call."

Later they could see Jay and Hailey, who were brought to a double bedroom upstairs to recover. Their weren't badly injured, but both were severely dehydrated and suffered from hypothermia. As they were very weak, they were advised to stay in the hospital for a few nights, even though after just one day both were back to their usual impatient selves and asked to be sent home. But the doctors didn't have it.

They also talked to Daniel Charles frequently, both were traumatized, and Voight insisted on these appointments, which would continue after their release from hospital. Jay and Hailey agreed to it reluctantly. Still, they both knew this wouldn't just go away, and they needed help.

* * *

Doctor Charles also told them what would happen to Maria Willis.

For the moment she was in a psychiatric facility, locked up, and it was highly unlikely that she would be released from there. She had developed a severe obsession with Jay, had a distorted view of reality and was considered extremely dangerous. All because of what her father had done. Usually something to feel sorry about, but neither Jay nor Hailey could feel any kind of sympathy for her. Not after what she had done. She had planned the whole abduction meticulously, had bought plane tickets with a software to make it look like Jay booked them, and it was almost impossible to trace it back to her. She had followed them for weeks, and had listened in to their phone calls. And that Monday morning she had taken action. She had followed them to the Chicago Med parking garage, had faked a broken-down car, and had drugged both of them with injections. Then she had driven them to the parking lot at O'Hare in Jay's truck, which she had checked out earlier too. There was an opening in the fence next to Jay's truck, so she managed to bring the bodies to another car she had placed there before. And she was strong – she had no problem carrying either of them from one car to the other. The back alley of the parking lot didn't have any camera surveillance and only very limited traffic, therefore nobody had noticed the parked car or Willis carrying two seemingly lifeless bodies.

The room in the basement of her father's old garage had also been prepared thoroughly. Sturdy chains, no possibility to escape, cameras, soundproof.

* * *

Jay and Hailey knew they had been very lucky. Without their unit they would never have been able to escape. Even if Jay had attacked Willis, she never had keys with her when they weren't drugged, so they wouldn't have been able to break free.

In their room at Med, Will Halstead had been a frequent guest, as had been their friends from 21st.

While Jay and Hailey were still waiting for their friends to take them home, Will entered the room, stretching out his open hand, in which he held a box.

"Jay, here's what you asked me for that Sunday." He looked at Hailey, unsure if she was aware that this box contained their mother's wedding ring.

Jay shook his head, pushed his brother's hand away. "No, Will," he said. "Thanks, but no thanks." He looked at Hailey briefly, gave her a soft smile.

"What? Why? Did you change your mind?" Will asked, unsure if he should mention the engagement.

Jay shook his head once more. "No, Will. I haven't. But I don't think the ring has brought us any luck. Just look what happened whenever we wanted to give it to our girlfriends. It never ended well. Hailey and I are getting married, but we will buy a new ring for her, together. Mom's ring isn't a good omen for us. Put it back where it was and leave it there as a memory of our parents."

Will looked at his brother, surprised. He stopped to think for a minute, then nodded. "You may have a point here," he admitted, then put the box back in his pocket. "A new ring might be just right. And congratulations by the way."

* * *

On a Saturday evening, Jay and Hailey entered their favorite restaurant, all dressed up, to celebrate their engagement. Just like Jay had imagined, he was wearing a suit and Hailey a stunning dress. However, unlike Jay had imagined, they didn't celebrate alone. The whole unit, Trudy Platt and Will Halstead were waiting for them already. This was better than what he had imagined. When they sat down, Hailey stretched out her hand, presenting the simple and elegant engagement ring. They had in fact chosen the ring together. Jay wanted the perfect ring for Hailey, and that meant asking her. It had been a great experience to actually do this together, they had enjoyed it tremendously. And once again Jay was amazed at Hailey. She wasn't complicated or high-maintenance at all when it came to choosing a ring. She didn't want the big sparkly stuff, the huge diamond – her ring was one of the simplest ones in the shop, but on her it looked perfect.

Jay was so happy, more than he ever imagined he could be. Whenever he looked at his fiancee, he couldn't stop from smiling. This beautiful, intelligent, sweet and tough woman was going to be his wife.

Hailey was just as happy. She looked at her ring again and again. This was the sign to everyone that she was going to get married to Jay, to the best man she could imagine. Strong, handsome, passionate, loving, and so much more.

They had gone through so much together, but all of it had made their bond stronger. They knew they would always be there for each other. And they had their friends, their family, who would always be there.

The End

* * *

_This is the end of my short trilogy, I will go back to writing single stories, as this story has found a proper ending now, I can't put these two through much more in one story universe. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing. Thank you for all your support._


End file.
